TV tonight: unmissable new post-apocalyptic thriller The Last of Us

The Last of Us

9pm, Sky Atlantic

For decades, video games have borrowed the narrative dynamics and visual grammar of film and TV thrillers. This series returns the favour. Initially, it feels like a slow burn: we are introduced to Joel (Pedro Pascal) and his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) as they muddle through their fraught but essentially functional domestic life. But things go haywire, thanks to a rapidly spreading fungal infection. When teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) enters the scene, it leads to a genuinely thrilling escape sequence which feels like an intense first-person shooter game. It’s essentially a post-apocalyptic drama, but thanks to its origins, the story has real white-knuckle jeopardy. Phil Harrison

Maternal

9pm, ITV1

“Want my advice?” asks a tearful surgeon. “Retrain now, while you’re young enough to do something else.” This fast-paced, stressful comedy-drama focuses on Maryam, Catherine and Helen, who are all returning to work at City general hospital after maternity leave. With their workloads increasing, how will that play out? It’s a flurry of botched childcare, domestic conflict, furiously intense medical situations and, of course, the routine heroism for which the NHS is rightly revered. Parminder Nagra, Lara Pulver and Lisa McGrillis star. PH

We Are England

8.30pm, BBC One

Last February, the BBC aired a charming documentary about a struggling Clacton working men’s club, which was attempting to modernise thanks to the proprietor’s daughters. This catchup revisits the venue a year later to see how Covid affected its attempt to attract a new clientele and balance the books. Alexi Duggins

999: On the Front Line

9pm, Channel 4

This new series of the compelling documentary strand was filmed last spring but even then – as paramedics respond to cardiac arrests, epileptic seizures and nasty falls – waiting times were stretching out alarmingly. Inspiring and anxiety-inducing by turns. PH

Love Island

9pm, ITV2

A splash of summer in the cold heart of January, with the latest series of this addictive but often troubling reality show. Changes are afoot: Maya Jama is replacing Laura Whitmore as host, there are new rules surrounding contestants’ social media activity, and there will, thankfully, be more guidance on respectful behaviour and inclusivity. PH

The US and the Holocaust

10pm, BBC Four

The second of three shaming films by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein reaches the outbreak of war and unambiguous news of Nazi atrocities against European Jews. As is fastidiously documented here, the US reaction was riven with indifference or outright hostility to those in desperate need of help. Jack Seale

Film choice

Isle of Dogs (Wes Anderson, 2018) 6.55pm, Film4
Wes Anderson returned to the stop-motion animation form used to fine effect in Fantastic Mr Fox for this typically arch adventure. It is set in a Japanese region where all dogs have been banished to an offshore rubbish dump due to disease. The scheming mayor’s young ward, Atari, flies to the island in search of his pet, and falls in with a canine pack voiced by the likes of Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton and Bill Murray. Influenced by Japanese art, it’s exquisitely rendered and wryly comic. Simon Wardell

Live sport

Bowls: World Indoor Championships, 1pm, BBC Two From Potters Resort near Great Yarmouth.